Back by popular demand?

Sort of. Consider that your first hint.

CLASSIFIED offers are reserved for wines so compelling that revealing the name would put our livelihood at stake. Our industry is built on relationships and not wanting to ruffle feathers, sometimes it’s a necessary precaution to redact some of the information.

HOWEVAH. We can drop some breadcrumbs, and the savviest of you will probably put the pieces together.

All that said, we’re in Rutherford today with a 2019 Cab that will blow your mind.

Let’s get what we can’t tell out of the way. The winery opted to remain incognito, to protect its reputation at peak. You KNOW them well, and they have graced our page in the past. This is their flagship red, with high demand from their wine club and we have but a handful of bottles to part with.

Any ideas yet?

Onto what we CAN say. This big heartthrob of a red normally sells for $130! And that’s a value proposal, given the location and provenance. Another HUGE clue, one of the neighbors is the Beckstoffers! If you’re into treasure hunting, here’s the indispensable Rutherford Dust Society map for your reconnaissance pleasure.

Narrowing it down?

The blend is almost all Cabernet Sauvignon, with Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot playfully spicing things up and not necessarily in that order of ascending or descending percentages.

Winemaking, is of course top-notch, with experience drawn from decades at other Napa institutions. The winery boasts at least that many decades of a legacy. The wine itself is dark and brooding with black fruit, plums, black raspberries, dark baking chocolate, vanilla, and striking minerality, all held together in a robe of thick, dusty tannins.

The vintage! Not much to say here really, one of the best EVER. So much so that the Wine Advocate urges “lovers of Napa Valley red wines in their more classic ripe, juicy, plush forms will want to hop on some of the 2019 offers when they come through and stock up.” Better listen, eh?

Scores? Hell yeah. Solid mid-90s as usual, by at least a couple of reputable sources thus far, deeming it “hearty” and “impressive in its grasp…” and that’s all we can give away.

The appellation? Home to institutions like Beaulieu Vineyard and Caymus, and the neo-uber-cult like Sloan and Scarecrow! Napa Cab zip codes just don’t get much better.

Oh, and our top-secret price? Rock bottom for this upper echelon of Rutherford juice, like two-for-one deep and then some. UNREAL.

Ready, set, GO. Then try to solve the puzzle, or simply wait for it to arrive on your doorstep before tearing into it with wide-eyed wonder…